The Dallas Cowboys picked a great pass rusher over good public relations — by signing Pro Bowl defensive end Greg Hardy to a one-year, $11 million contract.
Hardy spent most of last season in court after a judge found him guilty of assaulting and threatening to kill his girlfriend, Nicole Holder. The case was later dismissed because Holder didn’t cooperate with the prosecution.
She accepted Hardy’s settlement offer instead.
The mayor of Dallas called the signing a “shot in the gut” last week. This week, former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman addressed the situation with a more open minded outlook.
“The Greg Hardy signing has evoked a lot of emotion from a lot of people,” Aikman told the Dallas Morning News. “I don’t know the details of what happened. I’ve got daughters. I understand what domestic violence is. There is no place for it. He’s here because he is a pass rusher, no matter what else is said about it. I am hopeful that whatever did happen he’s learned from it and maybe he can be an advocate to create some change.”
Aikman made those comments days after the Cowboys vehemently defended the signing and the steps taken to make Hardy in Dallas happen.
The Hall of Fame quarterback could only “shake his head.”
“The Cowboys have done that a lot, but they have also done it with the backdrop that those players were good players,” he said. “Let’s be honest: Nobody is going to kid themselves with someone who is not a good player in the same situations. I don’t know. But I think it is a real slippery slope when you start and you get involved as to whether or not you deny someone the opportunity to make a living. We all make mistakes. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to go out there and do what you do and earn a living. But I understand the reaction to it.
“Like I said, there is no place for it….I do think the way people have reacted to the signing, I don’t know if four or five years ago the reaction would have been as strong. So from that standpoint, improvements have been made and there have been strides positively in bringing awareness to this that hopefully can change what’s going on.”